A Groundhog’s Day Treat

Groundhog’s Day is not a holiday on everyone’s calendar. But it has a special place in my heart and in the hearts of my children. Come and have an every day celebration with your kids while cooking this special Groundhog’s Day treat!

My mother was the queen of obscure holidays. We even had a book called “365 days” that had a holiday for every day of the year and she used it liberally to get us interested in doing crafts, reading poetry, or even cleaning our rooms! We celebrated Mother Goose Day (May 1st), Clean Your Room Day (May 10th) and even National Popcorn Day (Jan 19th) among many MANY others. I remember my mom pouring over the book, reading us the sections that included information on the holiday we would be celebrating. Some we did year after year (National Popcorn Day was always on the calendar), and others we just did once (I don’t think you can get away with celebrating National Clean Your Room Day only once a year).

Some stuck with us more than others. I still celebrate Three Kings Day on Jan 6th with my kids by making challah bread and wrapping up tiny treats just like the three wise men did for the baby Jesus. But, the thing that really stuck with me was the celebration of these holidays and the rhythm they brought to our year. We always seemed to have more holidays to celebrate in the colder, wintery months of Jan – March. Once you get past the colder months, planting became the priority for our mom just as playing outside became the priority for us.

Groundhog’s Day (Feb 2nd) was always a celebration where I got up early (west coast time) and got to call the number on our rotary phone (remember those???) and listen, ear to ear with my little brother, as they told us if Phil the Groundhog had, in fact, seen his shadow or not. We rejoiced in the 6 weeks of winter or the early arrival of spring with equal enthusiasm of school age kids, and we would make a treat for breakfast, side by side with my mom. I wanted to share the love and joy of that tradition with you… so here is the treat my kids and I will be making this Groundhog’s Day. There are natural sweeteners to replace sugar in these bad boys, but they are moist and delicious. In fact, they were so perfect that they pull right away from the paper. There is a trick to cooking with honey and maple syrup that I will share with you and it makes clean up easy too! Enjoy!

{Healthy} Groundhog’s Day Muffins

Preheat oven to 350*

Wet ingredients:

1 can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

1 1/2 tea cinnamon

1/2 tea all spice

1/2 tea nutmeg

Dry ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tea baking soda

1/2 tea salt

1/4 cup of shredded coconut

Topping:

1/4 cup shredded coconut

mini teddy bear shaped graham crackers

Mix ‘wet’ and ’dry’ ingredients separately. (Trick: Measure the oil in before the honey and maple syrup. You will find that the two sweeteners come right out of the measuring cup that way!)

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients slowly until incorporated into a batter. (This seems like a very wet batter, but I promise you, it makes a wonderful muffin!)

Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter.

Shake about 2 teaspoons of shredded coconut on top of each muffin.

Place in the oven for 35 – 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Top each little snowy hill with a teddy bear shaped graham cracker while they are still warm and watch your children light up with delight at having their very own Groundhog mound!

In case your kids want to find out Phil the Groundhog’s prediction this Groundhog’s Day, you can get an email with his predictions sent right to you! Go to this page and sign up: http://www.groundhog.org/prediction-signup/

Valerie Rose, creator of the blog Collecting the Moments… one by one spends her days cooking, gardening, and homeschooling her 4 children on her urban homestead in rainy western Washington. With camera in hand, she is constantly collecting the moments of life and encouraging others to do the same with activities and inspiration for a simple, creative household. You can find her on Pinterest, Facebook and on her homeschooling blog where she documents all the fun learning her kids do day to day.